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A day after the Shiv Sena asked how Narayan Rane can be BJP’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha when he is not even a member of that party, the BJP today sought to know why the Sena has become panicky over Rane’s candidature. (PTI)

A day after the Shiv Sena asked how Narayan Rane can be BJP’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha when he is not even a member of that party, the BJP today sought to know why the Sena has become panicky over Rane’s candidature. Talking to reporters outside the Assembly building here, where the budget session is in progress, Maharashtra BJP spokesperson and MLA from Mumbai Ram Kadam asserted that Rane was now with his party. “Rane is now with the BJP. But it seems he has given some people sleepless nights. I would like to know what has made Shiv Sena so panicky over Rane’s nomination, though he had left Shiv Sena some 13 years ago,” he asked. “Is Shiv Sena considering Rane as a threat because he could make inroads into Konkan region, which is still a stronghold of Shiv Sena?” Kadam asked. The BJP leader was speaking to reporters today outside the assembly, as the state budget session is in progress.

Kadam is the first BJP leader who came out in support of Rane after Shiv Sena MLC and whip of the party in council raised some questions against BJP fielding Rane as its RS nominee. The Shiv Sena yesterday asked how Rane be the ally BJP’s candidate for Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra when he is not a member of the saffron party. “From which party Narayan Rane has filed his nomination? If the BJP has made him a member, when did he accept BJP’s membership?” senior Sena leader Anil Parab had said. If Rane has become a BJP member, did he resign from his own newly founded outfit first, the Sena leader had asked.